In her recent review of "Rise" in Roundyhouse magazine Ellie Rees talks of the 'earthbound pleasures' of my work, commenting that the poems have a 'simplicity and stripped-down nakedness, haiku-like in their power to capture an experience, however fleeting'.
This is not the first time I've had such a comment on my work and I very much appreciate it as I do work carefully to pare the poems down to precisely the nucleus of a moment and no more. Of course it doesn't always work! And also I don't treat all my poems in such a way; it depends what the subject matter is. But where it is a matter of writing about harrowing issues like undergoing treatment for cance/ rape/ illness/ grief I do focus really hard on trying to achieve this spareness of language
.In "Rise" I have branched out into other fields than the cancer experience and observation of wildlife which is my other major focus; I have written a good deal about the habits of people whom I've observed, whether it's the child Nuala , or the inhabitants of the fictional Almond St, and I was pleased to read Ellie's closing comments on the collection, saying saying that 'McEvoy's keen eye delights in the variety and eccentricity of everyday life'. I do indeed!
Her review makes a total now of three reviews of "Rise" so far: James Naiden reviewed it on ink sweat and tears, and Matt Merritt gave it a very enthusiastic review on his blog polyolbion. I am very grateful to all three, and glad too that my publisher Jan Fortune is very active in sending out copies for review. I have heard from some poets that there are some poetry presses that don't do this. I have no idea if reviews help to sell copies of a book or not but at least they bring a book to people's attention and when they are generous, well-informed reviews, as these have been, it makes the writer feel appreciated and understood. Which is worth an enormous amount!
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